Reason to Believe
by Naki Outsuno
Summary: Everything is running smoothly Ulrich and Yumi are in a promising relationship, XANA hasn't attacked in a long time, and Aelita is near to materialization. But Yumi left something behind when she came from Japan, and now he's back... FROZEN
1. Got a promise of lovestruck fascination

**Before you read this fanfic, please read the following!!   
**If you have not seen the trailer for Garage Kids (the original project for Code Lyoko), you'll probably be lost. I'm using a lot of the concepts from Garage Kids in later chapters; IE, Yumi has TK in the 'real world', the surroundings in 'Lyoko' are more complicated, the feeling of the fic will be more Garage Kids style then Code Lyoko style, and the layout of the super computer will be the same as in Garage Kids (but it'll still be underground ')  
So please, if you haven't seen it, go to this website and watch it before reading my fic!! **Links are in my profile!!** Much thanks and tones o'love!!

A/N: o.o; I'm not usually a writer… so go easy on me. Any tips would be appreciated.

**Title:** Reason to Believe  
**Author: **Nakira Ayame Outsuno  
**Disclaimer:** Code: LYOKO, Garage Kids, and all characters and related items belongs to Antefilms and france3. I am simply borrowing them :D Original concept for this fanfic copyrighted to Dream Fox, who so graciously let me use it Please visit her fanfiction by following the link in my profile. It's worth it, i promise . Thank you so much, Dream Fox This chapter is dedicated to you .  
**See a variation of this fanfiction in doujinshi form by yours truly! Link in my profile!**

**Key**:  
"Speech"  
"_Speech in Japanese_"

* * *

"Ready, Ulrich?"

"Whenever you are, Yumi,"

"Alright…"

Jab, duck. Punch, block, kick. Fists and feet flew as the two teenagers began to fight with each other. Their movements were fluid; almost matched in skill. This was their daily routine; meeting in the park after classes to train. No one bothered them; in fact, most of them were afraid. This of course only worked to their advantage.

Ulrich swung his leg in a roundkick to Yumi's neck, but she blocked before he could make contact. Grabbing his ankle, she swung him around so he landed on his back. She brought her heel down to his torso, but he rolled out of the way and stood up before she could make contact.

"You're getting good, Ulrich," Yumi said in between blows.

"Thanks," he huffed back. They continued the exchange of hits and kicks for a good half an hour before they began to tire. Ulrich's hits were becoming significantly weaker, and Yumi couldn't lift her legs as high anymore.

Yumi kicked him in the side, and he mimicked her previous move and grabbed onto her ankle and flipped her backwards. He landed on top of her and held her hands above her head, pinning her legs down with his knees and ankles.

"Damnit, Ulrich! How did you pin me?!" Yumi growled in frustration and amusement. Ulrich smirked.

"I've practiced with you every day for almost two years, and you're shocked that I've moved closer to your level?" His smirk turned into a kind grin. Yumi narrowed her eyes at him and struggled to get up. His hold on her was good though, and she didn't move much.

"Ulrich, let me up!" she cried out.

"No…" he said quietly. Her eyes snapped to his in confusion; his tone was different then from before.

"N-" she started, but stopped as she realized how close they were. A cold wave ran over her; she was nervous beyond belief. She wasn't ready for this just yet. Her face turned red in an instant, and she could not, for the life of her, turn eyes away from Ulrich's. Some part of her knew what was coming, and she really didn't know how to handle it.

"Yumi… Yumi… Tell me, how you feel about me…" Ulrich whispered, leaning in closer to Yumi. Yumi blushed darker, if that was truly possible, and finally turned her head to the side.

"I… don't…… I mean, I do… but… I don't know, Ulrich," Yumi took a deep breath, having breathed little in their closeness. She turned back to look him in the eyes, and reached a hand to touch his cheek. "I like you, Ulrich. I mean, I really like you… But… I'm scared. I'm scared that I'll loose you, or that I'll hurt you, and I really don't want to do either to you. And I'd rather just stay friends with you then loose you because we made a mistake…"

"You… think that this is a mistake?" he leaned closer, and Yumi lost her breath.

"No… Ulrich, that's not what I mean. If we fought and… broke up, it would be a mistake. I never want to fight with you…" her voice became a whisper. Ulrich didn't reply. He dipped his head down to touch his lips against hers. Their first kiss was light and inexperienced; just the faintest touch of each other's lips on their own. But then they separated, and at the same time, Yumi leaned upward and Ulrich fell forward, and their lips clashed together in pure emotion. Their mouths opened together after that, and their kiss became deep and full of passion and need.

After a while the need for oxygen forced the two apart, and they looked at each other in wonder and confusion. Yumi coughed a bit, panting, knowing not what else to do with herself. Ulrich stood up, pulling her along with him and holding her in his arms.

"Its okay, Yumi… Nothing will go wrong. We won't make any mistakes… Please, I want to be with you…" He leaned down again and rubbed his cheek against her own. There was silence for a while, besides their panting before she spoke.

"Okay, Ulrich," Yumi pulled herself away so that she could look into Ulrich's eyes. "Okay. I want to be with you too."

Ulrich smiled, and gave Yumi a brief hug before pulling away. "So I guess this is the end of training?" he asked.

Yumi chuckled, and brushed her hair back. "I don't really know if I could concentrate after that… Ulrich, you've invaded my mind!" She laughed loudly at her demi-joke and Ulrich chuckled.

"I'm.. uh… getting pretty hungry. How 'bout we have something to eat? Today you were supposed to bring food, right? What did you make?"

"Aah, I made us a bento." Yumi said, holding up a purple and black box as the remains of her blush faded away and a huge smile took it's place.

"'Bento'…? What's a 'bento'?" Ulrich replied with curiosity. Yumi sat down cross-legged in the grass and put the box down in front of her. She took off the lid to reveal a slightly indented inside full of sushi rolls, hotdog octopi and other such treats.

"A bento is like… a Japanese picnic basket. This bento has three layers, see?" She picked up the first tray to reveal the middle layer full of onigiri; rice balls with a fruit in their backs. "I thought we'd go for something different today," Yumi chuckled. "Besides, my mom's been on my case about 'perfecting my Japanese cooking' lately. I had extras, so I brought some for our daily snackage. Here, sit down," She patted the spot of grass next to her. Ulrich plopped down beside her.

"So… where are the forks?" he asked with mild curiosity. Yumi pulled out two pairs of chopsticks.

"Today, we eat with these!" she declared triumphantly. Ulrich blinked and leaned back from her a bit.

"You're not serious, are you?" he mumbled, raising an eyebrow and looking at the chopsticks reproachfully. All hope that she had stoed a fork away for him somewhere vanished at her nod.

"Don't tell me you've never used them before…" A smile appeared on Yumi's face as he flushed in embarrassment. She poked him in the side with one of the offending utensils and took his right hand with hers, putting her own set of chopsticks down.

"Can't I just eat with my fingers?" Ulrich insisted. He flushed at the contact, still not used to the fact that he could openly show his emotion for her. Her face fell momentarily, but she figured that his comment was the result of his discomfort with the change in culture and her smile returned as quickly as it had left.

"Oh, don't be like that. This is going to be fun," Her smile got bigger. "You eat with your right hand, right?" she asked. He nodded. "Okay, now hold this chopstick like you were going to write with it. No! No, not like that! Like you're 'supposed' to hold a pencil. Good, now slip this one in under the other; yep, just like that; and rest it on the grove between your thumb and forefinger. Great!" she helped him move his fingers in the right place while dictating the directions to him. "Okay, now rest the first one only on your forefinger, and rest the other one on your middle finger. And that's it! You're ready to use your chopsticks!" Yumi let go of his hand, and he frowned a bit, missing her touch.

"I'm supposed to _eat_ with these? What do I do, stab the sushi?" Ulrich asked, half serious but full of sarcasm. He turned his hand over, bringing it closer to his face for inspection. Yumi laughed, taking his hand away from his face.

"You'll poke an eye out with that," she said between giggles. "Here, let me show you." She placed her hand over top of his in the same position, and reached for the bento box. Bringing his hand down, she forced the chopsticks to open a bit, then squeezed them around one of the hotdog octopus and raised the chopsticks to his face. "Say 'aah'," she mocked, grinning. He flushed crimson, but opened his mouth to accept the food. Before he could eat it, though, he forced the chopsticks apart and the hotdog dropped. He caught it with his other hand before it fell too far, though.

"I guess I still need practice," he said, holding up the octopus and laughing. Yumi laughed with him, blushing as she realized that she hadn't let go of Ulrich's hand yet. She supposed it didn't matter that much. Still chuckling, he popped the octopus in his mouth.

"Mmm.. wanna try again?" she asked, internally debating whether or not Ulrich would get a nosebleed if he blushed any more.

"Eeh, sure, why not?" he said, voice full of amusement. Yumi brought his hand back down towards the other octopus. This time, things went a lot smoother as Ulrich remembered not to bring apart the chopsticks until his mouth had a hold on the food.

"Ulrich, you're a natural at this!" Yumi laughed again, letting go of Ulrich's hand. She missed the contact.

"Oh yeah!" Ulrich said, voice full of sarcasm and humor. "You should see how I am at juggling knives!" he snickered, and Yumi laughed. Ulrich's smile got bigger; he was glad that he could make her laugh, and he really did treasure their time together. It wouldn't be long now until someone came to interrupt. Everyone knew better then to disturb them while they were training out in the park, but they could only get an hour or so alone before someone decided that it was enough 'them' time. Usually it was Sissi, jealous as always.

"Here, you can eat the onigiri with your hands," Yumi said, picking one up from the centre level. "It'll give you a break from your chopstick usage."

"Hmm… what fruit is in this one?" Ulrich picked one up, looking at it curiously. Yumi took his hand again and turned it to its back.

"This one has a cherry in it, see the red?" she said, reluctantly letting go of his hand and taking a bite of her own onigiri. She watched as he raised an eyebrow at the white food and cautiously took a bite.

"Hey!" he exclaimed after swallowing. "This is really good, Yumi!" He took another, larger bite and smiled shyly at her. Yumi blushed and looked down at her own onigiri.

"Thanks. They're… pretty easy to make," she said, trying not to sound as embarrassed and awkward as she actually was.

"Well how 'bout tomorrow, you bring some onigiri, and I'll bring the usual sandwiches? I could really do without the chopsticks…" he paused, seeming to think about something. "At least until I can use them better," he finished, smiling at her again.

"You should try eating ramen with chopsticks," said Yumi. "Oh, that'd be a sight to see…" she looked up, trying to imagine the scene in her head. It wasn't particularly hard, and she laughed.

"You can eat _ramen_ with these things!?" Ulrich looked genuinely shocked, staring at the chopsticks he set down in the bento with astonishment. This, of course, only made Yumi laugh harder.

"And just _what_ is so funny?" came an obnoxious voice from behind them. The two stopped their laughter and turned around slightly to face none other then Sissi. _'Yup,'_ Ulrich thought. _'It's a Sissi day.'_

"Nothing that you'd find amusing, trust me Sissi," Yumi said, the dregs of their previous amusement still evident in her voice.

"Hmm… I'm sure…" she said, giving Yumi a look. Turning to Ulrich, her face brightened. "Ulrich, dear, what exactly are you doing out here?"

"Finishing up my snack with Yumi. Not that it's any of your business, really. Mind telling us what _you're_ doing out here?" He replied, voice devoid of emotion aside from annoyance.

"Why, looking for you, of course! Didn't you know the Autumn Dance is on Friday night? Unfortunately the only ticket to getting in is a date. Of course I've had plenty of guys ask me already, but I want to go with you, Ulrich-love!"

Ulrich blanched at the thought, but that was quickly replaced with confusion. Why hadn't _he_ been notified about this 'dance'. Out of the corner of his eye, he saw Yumi equally as confused. It seems that with the time spent in and about Lyoko, they missed out on these notices. Though technically, since every time they go to Lyoko they go back in time, so they shouldn't have missed a thing.

"Uuh… sorry, Sissi, I'm already going with Yumi… My _girlfriend_," Ulrich said smoothly, putting an emphasis on the world 'girlfriend'. On his side, Yumi nodded to Sissi in conformation. Surely this would make Sissi leave them alone… or at least send her into a fit of rage.

Much to their surprise, Sissi smirked. "You're wasting your time, Ulrich-love. She's engaged,"

* * *

A/N: Well, what did you all think? ; Err… The only thing I ask for is no flames… Thank you…


	2. What am I to do? How am I to know?

**Sorry guys.. there was a problem with the chapter upload... apparently it didn't upload at all.. oO; I hope it works now... So so so sorry! .**

**Title:** Reason to Believe  
**Author:** Nakira Ayame Outsuno  
**Disclaimer:** Code: LYOKO, Garage Kids, and all characters and related items belongs to Antefilms and france3. I am simply borrowing them :D Original concept for this fanfic copyrighted to Dream Fox, who so graciously let me use it. Please visit her fanfiction by following the link in my profile. It's worth it, i promise. Thank you so much, Dream Fox!!  
  
**See a variation of this fanfiction in doujinshi form by yours truly! Link in my profile!  
**  
**Key:  
**'Thought'  
"Speech"  
"Speech in Japanese"  
  
**NOTE:** There are bouts of Japanese phrases throughout this chapter... But I have no clue if they're correct. I kinda had to teach myself, so any corrections would be much welcomed.

* * *

The colour drained from both Yumi and Ulrich's faces. Yumi sported a pale look of pure horror. Several emotions flashed over Ulrich's face, starting with shock and confusion, moving straight onto hurt and settling on anger.  
  
_'Engaged?!'_ Ulrich thought furiously._ 'How the hell can she be engaged?! She's underage! Damnit, this must be a joke. This has to be a lie! Damn you, Sissi! This isn't funn-'  
_  
"How... How do you know about that...?" Yumi growled out, interrupting Ulrich's furious train of thought. Ulrich stared at her as a new wave of shock hit him. Sissi just laughed.  
  
"Because your fiancé just enrolled into the school," She said with glee. "Your parents escorted him here. He's pretty cute, too. If he weren't so bad at English, or, ya know, tied down to you, I'd definitely go for him. Shame about the English thing, really..." Sissi trailed off. She turned to Ulrich, ignoring Yumi's presence. "So will you come to the dance with me, Ulrich?"  
  
Yumi snapped out of her shock and turned to Ulrich. "Don't listen to her, Ulrich. It was an arranged marriage; I had no say in it! I don't even like him like that; she's just trying to confuse you, Ulrich! Ulric-"  
  
"_She's_ trying to confuse me?" Ulrich snapped out. Yumi looked at him in shock.  
  
"Ulrich, no-"  
  
"At least I _know_ how _she_ really feels about me," he interrupted again. "I'm sorry, I... need to go. I'm confused; I need to think about some things." Ulrich stood up, and after a few staggered steps backwards, turned around and fled. Yumi glared up at Sissi. Sissi smirked down at Yumi.  
  
"That was petty and low, even for you," Yumi said lowly.  
  
"Yes, but it's also true. Your parents and my father are looking for you back at the school. I was sent to get you. Perfectly ironic, if you ask me," she smiled. "Well, I'm off to provide comfort to my poor heartbroken love. Ta-ta!" Sissi practically skipped off after Ulrich. It took a good amount of will power on Yumi's part not to chase after the egocentric girl and beat her senseless... or at least levitate a large boulder to "accidentally" drop on her head.  
  
As tears threatened to fall from Yumi's eyes, she silently packed her bento away and sulked off back to the main building.  
  
-------------------------  
  
By the time Yumi got back to the school, her eyes were red and puffy from holding back tears. Crying over this would do absolutely nothing but create more problems and make the situation that much more difficult. It was just her luck that she ran into Odd and Jeremie on her way to the office. They were leaning against their trademark tree talking about something significantly uplifting, as both were almost on the ground laughing so hard.  
  
"Hey guys, what's so funny?" Yumi walked up, trying to clear all saddened emotions from her voice. Odd, who recovered from his laughing fit first, stood up and put his hand on her shoulder.  
  
"Sissi just went by practically _dancing_... It was the funniest thing I've ever seen! You'd think she finally got Ulrich to date her or something!" At this, Odd burst out into another bout of laughter. "Oh, like _that'd_ ever happen!"  
  
Yumi remained silent and looked away. Noticing their friend's silence, the two let their laughter come to a stop.  
  
"Yumi...?" Jeremie started. "...That didn't happen, did it...?" He took a step closer to Yumi, hoping his closeness would provide some comfort to their friend. She shook a few times, obviously concealing sobs. Odd and Jeremie exchanged a look, then both touched her shoulder. "Yumi, tell us..." Jeremie continued.  
  
"N..no.. They're not d..dating.. Ulrich and I got... into a fight... because of something tha..that Sissi said..." With that, Yumi broke. She leaned onto Odd's shoulder and sobbed uncontrollably. Again, Odd and Jeremie exchanged a look.  
  
"Don't worry, Yumi! I'm sure it was just a lie she made up to get you two to be angry at one another," Said Odd, patting her shoulder gently. Yumi just clung to his shirt with her free hand and sobbed harder.  
  
"Yeah, if you get upset about it, then you're just letting her win!" Jeremie said, stroking her back comfortingly.  
  
"No!" she bit out between sobs, shocking both of them. "No, it's not a lie, it's all true, and it's all my fault! I though I convinced my parents to break the engagement but now they enrolled him in the school and Sissi found out and now Ulrich's mad but there's nothing I can do because once my parents get an idea in their head, there's almost no chance in them changing it but it's not fair because it's not my choice!!" Yumi choked in air from her ranting and went back to crying. Odd looked down at her surprisingly.  
  
"'Him'? 'Engagement'? What do you mean, Yumi...?" he asked. Jeremie waved his hand a bit to get Odd's attention.  
  
"Yumi comes from a Japanese family. Japan has a much different culture. Arranged marriages aren't uncommon in Japanese society... Just not quite as common in this era. Yumi's family must have arranged a marriage for her because of how wealthy her family is." He said offhandedly. Odd stared at him, then down at Yumi.  
  
"That... How can..." he fumbled over a few words before falling into a shocked silence. It was a few more minutes before Yumi calmed down. She lifted her head from Odd's shoulder and sniffed a bit, rubbing her eyes.  
  
"Thanks, you guys... I'm sorry..."  
  
"Aww, Yumi, there's nothing to be sorry about!" Odd said, patting her head.  
  
"Yeah, we're here for you no matter what!"  
  
Yumi smiled, trying to wipe away any bad thoughts. "Oh, hey, do you think I can use your dorm to wash my face and put this thing down?" Yumi held up her bento box.  
  
"What is that?" Odd asked.  
  
"Err... Nothing important," Yumi said, smiling a bit. "But there is food in it! Here, you take the leftovers in payment for letting me use your shirt to cry on." She handed it to him.  
  
"'Nothing important'? Are you crazy!?" He opened the box hungrily and began to drool. "Yumi, you're a cook after mine own heart," he grinned then proceeded to dig in. Yumi laughed.  
  
"Haha, feeling better?" Jeremie asked. She nodded. "Why don't you go back to the dorm and wash your face? I'll go with you,"  
  
"Ya know what? Forget it. I'll be fine now... Thanks you guys. Besides, I have to go to the main office before the headmaster hunts me down himself." She wiped her eyes with the backs of her sleeves.  
  
"Yumi! There you are!" came a distant voice from behind them.  
  
"Speak of the devil," said Jeremy. "There he is now. With your parents,"  
  
Yumi paled and turned around, praying the swelling under her eyes would go away quickly. The headmaster and both her parents were there, a boy about their age between them. He wore an orange shirt with a loose black tie, and simple black pants. He had dark hair which was pulled back in a small ponytail.  
  
"Headmaster! Mom, dad! What are you doing here?" Yumi asked stupidly. She knew why they were there.  
  
"Why, didn't Sissi tell you?" the Headmaster said. "Your parents are enrolling this young man. It seems he doesn't know English well enough to get around on his own, so they want you to escort him around. They've told me that you two are engaged, so I don't have to ask you to treat him nicely."  
  
"Yes sir..." she mumbled with a downhearted tone. She turned to Ulrich and Jeremie. "This is Li Shitashima," Turning to Li, she said in Japanese "_Li, these are my friends Jeremie and Odd_,"  
  
"_Jeremie, Odd, it is nice to meet friends of Yumi. I hope we can learn to get along as well!_" said Li, bowing to Odd and Jeremie. They looked at each other with raised eyebrows then turned to Yumi.  
  
"Translation, please?" said Odd. Yumi sighed.  
  
"Li says that he's pleased to meet you and he hopes that you can be friends,"  
  
"Oh... Well, it's nice to meet you too, Li," said Jeremie, holding out his hand. Li looked at it for a second, then you could practically see the realization float across his face and he took Jeremie's hand and shook it.  
  
"_Aah, I'm still unused to your culture. Well, hopefully we can be friends and you can teach me about it!_" a grin adorned his face, and Jeremie gave him a confused grin back looking to Yumi for another translation. Yumi rolled her eyes. This was going to be a hell of a week...  
  
"He says hopefully he can learn a lot from you," Yumi bit out quickly. She then turned to her parents. "Mom, dad, what happened to the agreement we had, huh? I thought we took care of this."  
  
Her parents exchanged a look and frowned. "Yumi, dear," her mother started. She then looked around and spoke in a hushed whisper so that no one around them would hear. "We told you we would give you until your 18th birthday to find someone to spend the rest of your life with. Your birthday is coming up next month and we've seen nothing of a relationship between yourself and another."  
  
"That's right," her father cut in, keeping his voice at the same level at his wife's. "We brought Li here in hope that you would decide to start a relationship with him. His parents are very much looking forward to you two getting married, you know. The joining of you two will bring great profit to our family,"  
  
Yumi glared ferociously at her parents. They both simultaneously scowled. "Don't give us that look, young lady," bit out her mother in a loud tone. "We gave you plenty of time to choose you husband now we're choosing for you-!"  
  
"MOTHER! I'm only 17!! I'm still a child! How do you expect me to choose a husband of all things! Do you even understand how many mistakes kids my age make in romance!? I can't believe you would set me up with someone I met all of three times since I was a baby and then not even ask my permission if you could arrange the rest of my life! Damn you and your need to control everything about me! Don't you care about anything other then how well your business does? Doesn't my happiness and future mean anything to you?!" She paused, letting her words sink in. At her parents startled and offended looks, she let out a scream and marched off back towards the park muttering things in Japanese that made the three remaining Japanese people turn around and gawk.  
  
"_What the hell was that all about?_"questioned Li as he leaned over to Odd and Jeremie.  
  
"Dude, I don't know what you just said, but I completely agree with you," muttered Odd, staring at where Yumi went in shock.  
  
It wasn't until a few hours later that Jeremie and Odd found Yumi passed out beneath a tree, exhausted from crying so much.  
  
-------------------------  
  
Rumors about Li and Yumi sprung up before the day had even ended. Odd and Jeremie had a ball trying to correct them. The rumors were everything between "Li and Yumi have been sleeping together for years but Yumi dumped him for Ulrich and now Li's back because he wants to have a child with her" and "Yumi and Li have been married since they were 5, but Yumi fled from him and now he's back for his revenge". It was like trying to untangle a rather large knot of yarn, and the damage was done far before the two boys could get to fixing it.  
  
The following day in science class, Mrs. Hertz brought Li to the front of the room to introduce himself. Several people snickered, and Yumi sunk far in her seat.  
  
"Class, class... Please be silent while our new student tells us something about himself. Li, go ahead." Mrs. Hertz turned to him expectedly. Li, of course, had no clue what was going on, and Yumi stopped translating for him willingly after he insisted upon leading her by the hand to the wrong classroom, then kissing her cheek.  
  
"Shitashima Li, desu! Yumi-chan wa boku no iinazuke!!" He marched straight up to Yumi's desk and took her hand, kissing it lightly. "Totemo Kirei ni narimashita, Yumi-chan! Aishiteru!!" Yumi groaned and snatched her hand back, flushing crimson from pure embarrassment and his unwelcomed display of affection. Despite the fact that no one had any idea what he just said, everyone giggled at the hand kiss. Except for Ulrich. He sat in the back, fuming.  
  
Odd, who had been unofficially appointed to 'deal with' Ulrich (as they share a room), leaned over to his friend and whispered, "You know, she really doesn't like it when he does that..."  
  
Ulrich huffed. "Of _course_ she doesn't. After all, she's trying _so_ hard to push him away..." His voice was full of sarcasm and he frowned, leaning on one hand and looking out the window. Odd sighed.  
  
Mrs. Hertz clapped to get the classes attention. "Class! Stop this. Yumi, please tell us what Li said!" The class became silent, then, but Yumi could feel the amusement floating between them. _Surely _Li must have said something to feed the rumors if he touched Yumi so lovingly. Yumi groaned internally. She was NOT translating what he just said. _'I'd better make something else up quickly...' _she thought. _'Umm... let's see, let's see...'  
_  
"Li says that he likes the colours orange and black. He likes the theatre and he's... engaged to me," she spoke the last three words with embarrassment and regret, and turned her head away. The class giggled again today. Mrs. Hertz clapped again, looking angry.  
  
"_Class_!! Why are you behaving so badly today? I understand that we don't usually have such a relationship between our students, but I will not allow this to effect our learning!" The class became silent after that; a few people giggled every now and then. "That's better. Now Yumi, tell Li to sit down, please."  
  
"Li-kun, koshikakeru onegai..." Yumi said quietly. Li looked around and took a seat near Herb. Unfortunately, Herb sat in front of Ulrich and Odd. Ulrich stiffened at the unwelcomed presence, and noticing this, Odd lay a hand on his shoulder.  
  
"Hey, relax. There's not much she can do, Ulrich. Her parents arranged this marriage. It's not like she has much of a say in it..."  
  
Ulrich lost his cool after this. He slammed his fist on the table, interrupting the beginning of Mrs. Hertz lesson. He stood up, creating even more noise. "DAMNIT, she DOES!!" Ulrich shouted to Odd. The entire class looked startled, and most of them guessed that he was talking about Yumi. Only the three of them knew the true depth of his words.  
  
"Ulrich, what is the meaning of this? You're disrupting my class," Mrs. Hertz said. "Report to the Headmaster at once!"  
  
"No need to ask me twice," he growled out rather rudely. As he gathered his things, only Yumi turned away. She hadn't spoken to Ulrich since 'the incident'; she wasn't sure how to approach him. Jeremie, who was seated at her side, put his hand on her shoulder. As Ulrich passed by Yumi's desk, he paused and turned to her.  
  
"You were right, Yumi. This was a mistake," Without another word, he marched to the exit and slammed the door shut as hard as he could. A beaker shook from the vibrations and fell off Mrs. Hertz's desk to shatter on the floor.  
  
Yumi burst into tears.

* * *

**A/N:** The Japanese should translate to (in order): "My name is Li Shitashima. Yumi is my fiancé!" (walks up to yumi, yadda yadda..) "Yumi, you have become very beautiful! I love you!" then later, "Li, sit down please". I really don't know if this is proper Japanese, so please forgive me if it isn't...  
  
I'm sorry if I make Yumi seem like a crybaby... She just seems like the kind of person who would be too upset to do much else if she were in this situation.  
  
As always, _the more reviews, the sooner I update_! No flames, please 


	3. Seems so true, all the lies you're telli...

**Title:** Reason to Believe  
**Author: **Nakira Ayame Outsuno  
**Disclaimer:** Code: LYOKO, Garage Kids, and all characters and related items belongs to Antefilms and france3. I am simply borrowing them :D Original concept for this fanfic copyrighted to Dream Fox, who so graciously let me use it. Please visit her fanfiction by following the link in my profile. It's worth it, i promise. Thank you so much, Dream Fox This chapter is dedicated to you .  
**See a variation of this fanfiction in doujinshi form by yours truly! Link in my profile!**

**Key**:  
'_Thought'  
_"Speech"  
"_Speech in Japanese_"

**NOTE:** I'm going for a three week camp, so I won't be able to update until I get back.. ;; fear not, for I shall come back bringing slightly better written chapters! Yay! XD

* * *

"_Oi! Yumi!! How DARE he speak to you that way!! What a horrible person!_" Li sprung from his seat as soon as Yumi burst into tears and went off in a tangent in Japanese. "_He made you CRY, Yumi! No one should ever make you cry. You're too nice of a person to take that kind of treatment._"

His tangent, to everyone in the room, sounded aggressive. Of course it would; no one knew what he was saying, and Yumi only cried harder at his words. The class burst into conversation, and Mrs. Hertz sprung to action.

"Herb, can you get Li to sit down and be quiet?" She walked to Jeremie and Yumi's desk and leaned in close to Yumi, speaking in a whisper so as not to embarrass her further. "Yumi, would you like to go to the Nurse?" she asked. Yumi nodded weakly. "Alright, dear. Jeremie, would you please take her down there?"

"Yes, Mrs. Hertz," said the blonde boy, helping Yumi up and leading her out of the class. Mrs. Hertz tried to calm everyone down in spite. Nothing was going to get them to be quiet after Li tried to follow Yumi out of the room and ended up tripping on his own backpack.

Odd leaned back in his seat and sighed. _'Something tells me this is going to get a _lot_ worse before it gets better...'_

-------------------------

It wasn't until later that evening did Odd have a chance to talk to Ulrich. The brown haired boy had disappeared after class, and had only gotten back to the dorm a half an hour ago. They hadn't talked much since then. Odd, deciding that Ulrich didn't need to be bombarded with questions, decided not to bring up the subject of Yumi and a certain engagement right away. Unfortunately it was getting late, and he wanted to get Ulrich to call Yumi and work things out as soon as possible.

Odd sighed. His thoughts were distracting him from his reading. It figured; he never got much reading time anymore. _'Oh well, there's no point in beating around the bush any longer,'_ he thought.

"Hey, Ulrich, what the heck was that outburst in class about, anyway?" Odd said, leaning back on his bed and putting the book he was reading down on his lap. Kiwi woke up from his sleep after his owner's voice broke the long period of silence and yawned. The brown haired boy sighed and looked up from his homework.

"I don't know... This whole thing just makes me angry,"

"You mean, you're jealous," Odd corrected. Ulrich rolled his eyes and gave him a 'duh' expression, then threw his pencil on his desk and leaned back in the chair.

"Ya think?" He clucked his tongue and scoffed. "Ya know, we finally got together like, 10 minutes before all this started. Ironic, isn't it? Years of pent up emotion that we finally put out in the open, and a few minutes later, it's all gone."

"But you guys both like each other, right? You said so yourself; 'years of pent up emotion'. Ya know, I bet she really doesn't want this whole... arranged marriage thing." Odd turned around to face him, petting Kiwi absently. "She doesn't have a choice in the matter, you understand that, right?" He looked at his friend. Ulrich nodded. "Did you even talk to her yet?"

"No... I can't face her... Especially after what I said to her. God, what do I do? I wish I hadn't said that... Getting together wasn't a mistake," Ulrich put his face in his hands and groaned.

"Good, now go say that to her," said Odd offhandedly, then picked up his book.

"It's been hours, Odd. If I was able to say it to her then I would have, don't ya think?" he glared at the purple-oriented boy. Odd shrugged and turned the page.

"Well _I_ do, but it's obvious that _you_ don't. Has she tried to call your cell phone?"

"No. Well, I don't know. I turned it off after I left class." At this, Odd looked up from his book.

"I'm sorry, you did _what_? What if there was a XANA attack, hn? I don't have my cell phone anymore; Jim took it away after Jeremie called during class, remember? Ulrich, that was irresponsible! Just because you can't handle a little problem you can't work out right away-"

"A _little_ problem? You call Yumi being engaged 'a _little_ problem'!? Odd, she's been lying to us for years! She's been lying to me since she started acting like she cared about me!!" His voice got louder and louder as he reached the end of his short outburst. Once his voice got to shouting level, Kiwi jumped up and started barking.

"Geeze, Chill out Ulrich... Look, I know it's an unfortunate turn of events, but I'm sure if you just go talk to her then everything will work out, okay? She doesn't want to be engaged to him. She thinks he's a nice person, but she doesn't want to marry him. Do you know why, Ulrich? Because she loves _you_. Her parents are forcing her into this marriage," he pet Kiwi's back until the dog calmed down and went back to sleep. Ulrich stared at Kiwi absentmindedly for a while, processing this information, then took out his cell phone from his pocket and turned it on.

"Hmm... Six new messages. Two guesses as to who they're all from." He purposely didn't respond to what Odd just said. He wasn't sure what to say. Odd, sensing this and getting aggravated with his friend just sighed.

"Look, as long as there are none from Jeremie warning us about an attack that started hours ago, then it's your problem. You can't keep fighting with her though, Ulrich. You _love_ her. And she loves you too, or else she wouldn't have gotten this upset. Hey, are you going to the dance tomorrow? I'm sure I can get Yumi to go and you two can work things out. Would that be alright?" Odd gave Ulrich a sympathetic look. He wanted his two friends to get along; the closer, the better.

"I'm not going to the dance. The last thing I need right now is to have Sissi flinging herself at me," Ulrich groaned, running a hand through his hair and setting his cell phone on his desk.

"...Are you sure...? I mean, even if we just get you and Yumi together alone... I'm sure Jeremie and I could pull something like that off."

"Jeremie's going?"

"Yeah. Weird right? I'm surprised he's separating himself from his compu- Wait, don't change the subject. Are you _sure_ you're not going?"

"Yeah..." Ulrich trailed off, turning back to his desk to think. Odd sighed and picked up his book once again, figuring that the conversation was over; for the moment, at least.

Tapping his pencil against the desk absently, Ulrich became lost in his thoughts. It's not as if he wanted to fight with Yumi, right? Of course not; he cared about Yumi and he wanted her to be happy. _'Oh, yeah, great way to make her happy; let's live out the only thing keeping her from a full-fledged relationship with me.' _He sighed inwardly. He knew he shouldn't have lost his temper. Yumi was only following her parent's wishes. _'Knowing her, if she were truly looking forward to marrying the guy, she would've told me the first time I showed any attraction to her.'_

Odd was right; he should talk to her. But he lost his temper right after Yumi had sacrificed her fear of fighting to be with him. _Literally_ right after. How embarrassing was that? He must have hurt Yumi horribly. He should talk to her as soon as possible. He glanced at his cell phone clock to find that it read 10:30.

'_Tomorrow... I'll talk to her tomorrow.' _He settled at that thought and went back to doing his homework.

-------------------------

"I don't know what to do with them, Aelita. They haven't talked since Thursday. It's like they were never friends. Neither of them went to the dance yesterday, either. It figures... the one dance I go to..." Jeremie leaned back in his chair with exasperation. Aelita turned her head to the side.

"It's because of that boy, right? Doesn't Ulrich understand that Yumi doesn't want to marry him?" she asked. Jeremie shrugged.

"Odd explained to him that since it's an _arranged_ marriage, Yumi doesn't get a choice. I think Ulrich's angry because Yumi's not telling him to get lost, but she can't because of her parents. He _is_ living with them, you know. I'm still curious about this 'until I'm 18' deal she had with them. I haven't had the heart to ask her. You should see her, Aelita. She looks like she's been through hell. Ulrich's not doing much better."

"At least XANA hasn't activated any towers recently. Things could get a lot worse if the two of them aren't speaking to one another," said the pink haired girl, trying desperately to look on the brighter side of things. Jeremie snorted.

"Knock on wood. That's the _last_ thing we need right now,"

"Perhaps I should talk to Yumi?" Aelita suggested. "It's not as if she has another female companion to talk to about these matters..."

"Odd's almost there..." laughed Jeremie. Aelita chuckled.

"You know what I mean..."

"Yes, yes, I know... I'll give her a call," said Jeremie, picking up his cell phone and dialing the familiar number.

"Moshi-moshi, Yumi desu," came a tired, female voice. Jeremie blinked.

"Umm... Yumi...?"

"Oh! Jeremie- I'm sorry, I didn't even look at who was calling... I ditched Li and he's been calling me non stop,"

"Where are you?" Jeremie frowned. There was a loud sound behind her, which sounded suspiciously like...

"At the... train station," she said tentatively.

"Why on earth are you there?" Jeremie was starting to get worried. Aelita gave him a look.

"That's none of your business," she snapped. Then she sighed. "I'm sorry, Jeremie. Everything's been awful lately... I can't stand to face anyone. I'm done crying, but I can't... stay here, right now. I have a pen pal in Germany. I'm going to visit her for a while."

"Do your parents know about this?" he asked. There was silence on the other line for a minute.

"...They know about my pen pal, but they don't know I'm going to visit her. Please, Jeremie, don't tell them... don't tell anyone. I'm leaving my cell phone off. I don't want to talk to Li, I don't want to talk to Ulrich, and I don't want to talk to my parents... I need some time away from everything. I had a fight with them, last night. They won't call off the engagement."

Jeremie was silent. He didn't know what to say, what to do... "You're running away?" he asked dumbly.

"I'll come back,"

"No, Yumi! You can't run away from your problems. They'll either follow you or get worse while you're gone! Besides, what am I supposed to tell everyone? That you fell off the face of the planet? You'll miss school, you'll have the cops out looking for you.. You're going to create _more_ problems by leaving!"

"I know that."

"Then why are you leaving!?" Jeremie practically screamed into the phone.

"I'm sorry, Jeremie. I'll be back in a week or so..." With that, she hung up. Jeremie tried to call her back, but she had already turned her phone off.

"Damnit," Jeremie cursed under his breath.

"What's going on, Jeremie?" Aelita asked.

"Yumi left. She went to visit someone she hasn't even _met_ in Germany for 'a week or so'. We _have_ to stop her. Is there some way you can tap into the train system and delay the train?"

"I can try... but Jeremie-"

"Alright, good. I'm gonna go get Odd and Ulrich and we'll go to the train station to stop her." With that, Jeremie sprung from his chair and dashed down the hall to Odd and Ulrich's room. Aelita watched him go from Lyoko, and sighed.

"...don't forget your cell phone," Aelita finished, looking at the small phone he left at the keyboard. Sighing again, she signed out and began to find the train station.

-------------------------

"Odd! Ulrich!!" Jeremie burst through their door. Odd was playing with Kiwi, who jumped at the sound. Ulrich almost fell off his bed, dropping his cell phone in the process.

"Geeze, what's with all the excitement?" Odd asked, standing up.

"Yumi, she's running away," he huffed.

"What?!" Ulrich exclaimed. Jeremie continued, finally catching his breath.

"Down at the train station.. I don't know when her train leaves, but we have to go stop her,"

"Why'd she run away?" Odd asked, as all three of them headed towards the direction of the nearby train station.

"Why do you think?" Jeremie said. Odd sighed; he knew why. Ulrich pretended not to hear them. He was never really one to like to accept blame for something... Especially something like this. It figures, too; he was about to call her when Jeremie burst through the door.

"Apparently she had a fight with her family last night over the engagement. They won't call it off," Jeremie continued between pants. They left the school grounds without being caught and tore off down the street.

"That's no reason to run away," said Odd.

"For her it is; think about it, Odd-"Jeremie paused as they turned a sharp corner. "You're in a promising relationship when all of a sudden your parents bring you a fiancé and force you two to get married. Not only that, but they enroll him in the same school as you, and he speaks only one language. Ironically, it's also your native tongue and no one else in the school speaks it, so he follows you around because he can't exactly _talk_ to anyone else. Your parents absolutely refuse to go back on you marrying him. Because of this, your other relationship is shot to dust. What are you going to do?"

"I don't know, run away?" Odd said. "And I'd be engaged to a 'she', not a 'he'."

"Sure, Odd. Whatever," said Jeremie. Odd whacked him on the shoulder. They finally reached the train station, and all three paused to catch their breaths.

"Cummon, we might still catch her." Ulrich said, running ahead of the two blondes. Odd and Jeremie exchanged a look.

"You think he forgives her?" Odd asked. "He sounded unsure last night."

"I think he wishes none of this happened," Jeremie said. "Now let's go." By the time they got to the platform, they found Ulrich grabbing Yumi's arm to try and stop her from getting on the train. Yumi struggled then got so angry that she turned around and smacked him hard across the face. All three of her friends, as well as some bystanders looked shocked.

"Don't try and stop me with that excuse, Ulrich," she spat out coldly. Odd and Jeremie stood behind their friend, looking to Yumi in shock. She glared at each of them, and her eyes narrowed at Jeremie. Then she turned around and got on the train.

"Yumi, wait!" Odd shouted. "If you leave, I'll call your parents," he said, voice sounding serious. Yumi paused, but didn't turn around.

"Why should I stay? So I can get married to someone I don't love? What future waits for me here?" she said.

"I don't know... Yumi, I'm sorry for not understanding... Please don't leave... Please. We can work something out if we try, but we can't do anything if you leave," Ulrich said. Yumi turned her head to the side a bit to look at her three friends out of the corner of her eye.

"You'll get angry again. I meant it when I said I never want to fight with you."

"I don't want to fight with you either... I'm trying, Yumi, to understand your side of things... But please understand my side too. I finally put my emotions on the line, and I find out not 10 minutes later that you're _engaged_ to someone. It hurts, you know..." He took a step towards Yumi, who, at his words, turned and backed off the train. Her eyes were downcast, afraid of what she would find if she looked at Ulrich.

"I thought I had everything worked out with my parents. They told me that until I turned 18, they wouldn't bring up the engagement. I guess they couldn't wait a few more weeks, huh?" she smiled a bit. Ulrich blinked. The train conductor called for any last minute boarding. Yumi stepped closer to her friends, and Odd and Jeremie smiled out of relief.

"Why didn't you say anything to us? To me? If you had told us, we could have done something to prevent any of this from happening," said Ulrich.

"I know, but I didn't want to rush our relationship, ya know? I wanted things to work out the way they were supposed to... Not because once I hit 18 I'd be engaged to Li."

'_Li must be her fiancé..._' Ulrich thought. _'I'm gonna have to have a talk with him later..._' He frowned internally, not really looking forward to the idea.

"I had hoped that they would forget about the engagement since we moved here from Japan, but what do I know?" She paused and sighed, finally looking up in Ulrich's eyes. "I'm sorry for not telling you, Ulrich..." In her eyes, he saw the truth behind her words. He saw all the sorrow that she had from their fight, the anger she had towards her parents, the happiness at his words...

He pulled her into a hug, and she dropped her suitcase to hug him back. "I'm sorry for saying that it was a mistake... It wasn't, it never will be... It was only a mistake for me to get so angry without talking to you about it..."

"I'm so sorry, Ulrich," Yumi said again, pulling away a bit to kiss Ulrich quickly then pulling him back into a hug. Once the two finally pulled apart, Odd slapped his hands on both of their shoulders.

"Well, _that's_ over with..." he said, grinning. Yumi bent over a bit to pick up her suitcase, and the four of them headed back to Kadic.

"Sure. _That's_ done with... Now what are we going to do about my fiancé?"

"Can't you just tell your parents that you found someone else that you love?" suggested Odd. Yumi shook her head.

"I brought it up last night and my parents wouldn't hear of it."

"Well, it looks like we have some fun times ahead of us... Don't loose hope; we'll figure something out!" Jeremie said with confidence. Yumi gave him a weak smile, and Ulrich squeezed her hand.

"We will. I'm sure of it," he said softly.

-------------------------

"Oh no, Aelita!" Jeremie stopped suddenly as they entered the gates. The other three turned to look at him.

"What's wrong with her?" Yumi asked.

"Nothing, I hope. I told her to mess up the trains so that you couldn't leave," he said, exasperated. "And I left my cell phone in my dorm in the rush!"

"Relax, Einstein. We watched the train leave ourselves. She must not have done it yet," said Odd.

"Yeah, but what if she eventually _does_," Jeremie groaned, rushing back to his dorm.

"To follow or not to follow... that is the question," said Odd, grinning. Right on cue, Li ran up to them.

"_Ah! Yumi! _There_ you are! I've been looking for you,_" he paused, looking at Odd, then Ulrich. He frowned when his eyes fell upon the brown haired boy. "_You were the one that made Yumi cry. I don't believe we met..._"

"_Li, don't do anything stupid..._" Yumi said."_His name is Ulrich._"

Ulrich looked to her at the sound of his name. "This is Li, I'm assuming?" he asked Yumi.

"Hai- I mean, yes. Sorry. This is Li Shitashima."

"Pleasure," Ulrich said out of courtesy, offering his hand. Li, of course, shook his hand and smiled a little, though his eyes were hard.

"_If you hurt Yumi again, I'll break your hand,_" Li spoke with a pleasant tone, completely betraying his words.

"Same to you, buddy," Ulrich said offhandedly, having of course no clue of course what Li had just said. Yumi laughed; she knew what both of them were talking about, but neither of them had any idea what the other had said. The fact that both phrases fit one another was, in her opinion, amusing.

Li blinked and looked over to her. "_Yumi, what's so funny about my breaking his hand?_" he asked. Ulrich raised an eyebrow at her.

"No, no, it's nothing..." she insisted. "_Never mind, Li. It's nothing important."_ The three boys blinked at her.

"_Right... Anyway, I came down here to find you. Your parents have news for you. I could probably tell you if you'd like, but I really don't think you're going to like it. I actually have some news for you too, which I think you'll like a lot better-_"

Yumi interrupted him. "_Li, you're rambling. Hold on,_" she turned to Odd and Ulrich. "Would it be alright if I talk to Li alone for a few minutes?"

Odd and Ulrich exchanged glances, but both nodded. "Sure. We'll go find Jeremie and see if he stopped Aelita in time," Odd said.

"Don't worry, Yumi... I trust you," said Ulrich. Yumi smiled at him.

"Thank you." She watched as both boys ran off towards the dorm, then turned back to Li.

"_Well, what's your news?_" she asked.

"_Well I though you should know... I'm aware that you're not happy with our engagement_," he looked down, and Yumi flushed in embarrassment.

"_Was it obvious?_"

He chuckled. "_A little bit. Anyway, I thought you should know that neither am I._"

Yumi's head snapped up at him. "_What?_" she asked in disbelief.

"_Yeah... I'm sorry. I mean, you're the only other person who can understand what I'm saying so I like being around you... But I kind of got the hint once you ditched me._" Li ran a hand through his black hair, grinning sheepishly.

She faltered, flushing again in embarrassment. "_Err... Sorry about that..._"

"_Aah, it's no problem. I know I was being annoying. Anyway, I just wanted to tell you that. I have someone back in Japan that I love. Her name is Sakura, and I've known her for seven years. I really want to be with her, but my parent separated us and then they sent me here to get married to you_."

"_I know how that is... I'm in love with Ulrich, that boy you met before."_

"_The one who made you cry?"_

"_Yes, but that was my fault..."_

"_I'm sure,"_ he scowled. _"I'm happy that you love him, but please don't let him hurt you anymore,_"

Yumi smiled. _"Yes, I know. Anyway, what was my parents news?_" she asked. At her question, Li's face fell.

"_I'm afraid it's only bad news... You see... They're taking us back to Japan. On your 18th birthday, they're going to make us marry._"

* * *

A/N: I'm not sure how much sense this chapter makes. O.o I wrote it starting with the end and working backwards... I could seriously use a beta reader for future chapters, if anyone's interested (I would be very grateful :3).

More reviews means quicker updates (even though I won't be able to update for a while anyway.. . )

No flames, please! Constructive criticism welcomed.


	4. Tragically compelling

**Title:** Reason to Believe  
**Author: **Nakira Ayame Outsuno  
**Disclaimer:** Code: LYOKO, Garage Kids, and all characters and related items belongs to Antefilms and france3. I am simply borrowing them :D Original concept for this fanfic copyrighted to Dream Fox, who so graciously let me use it. Please visit her fanfiction by following the link in my profile. It's worth it, i promise.

**See a variation of this fanfiction in doujinshi form by yours truly! Link in my profile!**

**Key**:  
'_Thought'  
_"Speech"  
"_Speech in Japanese_"

**NOTE:** My god, I've taken so long to update this thing. I'm so sorry... Yann... I'm gonna try to rewrite a few chapters at some point. I realized how... not that good they were. yeah.  
Wow, 50 reviews!! You guys rock!! Alright, enough of me. ENJOY!

Special thanks to Spirit of Dragon who beta-read this chapter!! I lurve you! :3

* * *

"Two weeks, 3 days, 9 hours and 27 minutes before I turn 18," Yumi mumbled, glancing at her watch with disgust. She leaned back into the comforting arms of Ulrich.

"You know, there's still time for us to do something about it..." he said, hugging her tightly. She put her hands on top of his around her waist and sighed.

"I don't know what it is we would be able to do. Neither Li or myself want to get married... At least not to each other." At this, Ulrich blushed. "But if my parents are going so far as to completely bring us back to Japan to marry us off, then we're pretty much screwed."

"That kind of negative thinking isn't going to get you very far," Ulrich said, burying his face in her neck. She chuckled at the ticklish feeling, and leaned her head back on his shoulder.

"Maybe they'll listen to me if I try talking to them again," said Yumi softly as Ulrich nipped at the skin at her neck.

"Maybe..." mumbled Urlich. Yumi whimpered as he began to suck on her skin.

"HEY! You two wanna knock it off?!" Odd yelled, pulling out a spray bottle full of water and unleashing its wrath upon the couple. They bounced apart, glaring at the boy.

"Odd- What the fu-!?" Ulrich mumbled, whipping the condensation off his face. Yumi muttered something about her hair and Jeremie burst into laughter.

"That was _beautiful_, Odd! Where'd you get that?" the blonde boy asked. Odd held it up and winked.

"I keep it next to my bed in case Kiwi does a naughty." He pointed the bottle at Kiwi, who whimpered, ducked his tail between his legs and hid under Ulrich's desk. Both boys laughed, and Odd put the spray bottle next to his pillow.

"Thanks for the shower, Odd. Now I'll have 10 extra minutes to myself tonight," Yumi said sarcastically, using the sleeves of her shirt to dry her face off.

"Not a problem! Anything for a friend!" He winked again, bursting out into laughter at the glares that Yumi and Ulrich sent him.

"Back to the problem," Jeremie cut in, trying his best to keep the laughter out of his voice. "What if we all went down to talk to your parents?"

"It's possible, I guess. Though I'm sure they wouldn't be too interested in what you had to say. They're honour bound to keep this arrangement," Yumi sighed, brushing hair out of her face.

"Well, it seems you only have one choice left," Odd said, face serious. The three others leaned in closer to him with anticipation. Odd frowned, illustrating the seriousness of the situation. "You and Ulrich need to elope."

"_What?!_" Ulrich and Yumi exclaimed in unison. Odd's face cracked into a smile, and he burst into laughter again.

"Odd!" Yumi smacked his shoulder, which made him pause in his laughing.

"Ow, that hurt!" He rubbed his arm and gave Yumi a shocked look.

"Well don't make jokes like that. I'm too young to marry anyway," Yumi crossed her arms over her chest and sat down on Ulrich's bed. Suddenly from the hallway came a loud, masculine screech and all four kids poked their head out the door to see what was going on. From around the corner at the end of the hallway tore Li, hair a mess and clothing out of place.

"YUMI-CHAN!!" He screamed when he saw the familiar girl, then dashed towards Odd and Ulrich's room. "Yumi, tasukete! TATSUKETE!!" They pushed open the door and Yumi stepped into the hall. Li ducked behind Yumi and cowered while she looked at him in confusion. She glanced towards the three boys in the open doorway, who shrugged.

"Oh Li!" came an all too familiar sing-song voice from the same direction that Li had come from.

"_Oh god, she's gonna get me!!_" whimpered Li in Japanese. Yumi blinked at him, then looked up at the corner and saw none other then Sissi headed towards them with a smile on her face.

"Good evening, everyone!" Sissi said with joy practically oozing from her words. "Li, there you are!!" The boy practically cried.

"Sissi, what's going on?" Yumi asked, an eyebrow raised in curiosity. "Couldn't take Ulrich, so you decided to move onto Li?"

Sissi's smile deepened. "Don't be ridiculous. Li and I were simply having a chat. He escaped, though, so I'm here to get him back!"

"_Yumi, she tried to put makeup on me! I'm not a girl, I just look like one!_" Li exclaimed from Yumi's back. His grip on her shirt tightened, but she pried his hands off of her and stepped away from him, a flat, amused look on her face.

"Just because he looks like a girl," Yumi said to Sissi. "doesn't mean you can dress him like one," she snickered. Sissi's face fell, and she put her arms on her chest.

"Can you blame me? I mean, look at him! His hair is begging to be braided!"

Odd, Ulrich and Jeremie all looked at each other, then at Sissi, then at Li and broke into hysterics. The three in the hallway turned their heads to look at the boys.

"I'm just... amazed, Sissi. Are you _really_ that bored?" Yumi asked, grinning. Sissi rolled her eyes, and marched off, giving Li a wink.

"I'll be back for you later," her voice was full of the same amusement she had when she had first arrived.

"_Thank you, Yumi! You saved my dignity. Remind me never to trust that shrew again. She said she had food!_" Li stood up, fixing his hair and straightening out his clothes. "_And now I'm hungry. Damnit, I never win!_" He frowned, crossing his arms over his chest. Yumi looked back to her three friends, a smile on her face.

"Who wants to go get some dinner?" she asked.

"Ooh, I'll go!" Odd said enthusiastically, jumping out of the room to stand next to Li.

"Me too. I'm starving!" Ulrich said, taking Yumi's hand. She flushed a bit, but gave his hand a reassuring squeeze.

"I think I'll skip," Jeremie said. "I haven't been spending much time with Aelita lately. Hope she doesn't think I'm angry at her..." he trailed off, looking up in a calculating manner. Odd snickered.

"Of course. Jeremie wants to beat around the bush with his darling Aelita!" he cackled. "Just tell her you love her, dude. I'd be shocked to hell if she didn't love you back." Jeremie turned pink and glared at Odd.

"Oh, leave him alone, Odd," Yumi said, swatting her friend on the shoulder. "He'll tell her when he's ready."

"Thank you, Yumi" said Jeremie.

"Not a problem," Yumi said.

"_Alright, let's head off to dinner already!!_" Li said, punching the air for emphasis. The three other boys looked at Yumi expectedly.

"Dinnertime?" Odd guessed. Yumi laughed and nodded.

"Odd, you're picking up on Japanese!!"

"Not really, Yumi. I can see _the look_ in his eyes. Us food-vacuums gotta stick together and all!" He grinned, mimicking Li's pose. "OFF!"

Yumi and Ulrich exchanged a look of amusement then headed down the hall, following their two friends. Jeremie shook his head then meandered off to his own room to have a nice, long chat with Aelita.

-------------------------

Dinner had been, well, typical. Odd had challenged Li to an eating match; Odd inhaled five slices of pizza, while Li only managed three and a half. After declaring himself the winner, Odd ordered food for Yumi and Ulrich, who had been watching their dual with amusement and slight fear. They had parted soon afterwards, as it was getting late and Odd and Ulrich needed to be home before the school's curfew.

Li and Yumi headed back home, talking about Sakura, the person that Li loved.

"_Aww... She's so pretty!_" Yumi said, looking at a picture that Li showed her. Sakura was slender, with wavy light pink hair that fell down past her shoulders. She wore a pink skirt and a white shirt with a giant pink heart in the center. "_Certainly likes pink, I see,_" Yumi laughed, handing the picture back to Li. He shrugged.

"_Yeah, well... It suits her. I bet you can't guess her favourite festival!_"

"_Hmm... could it be... the cherry blossom festival?_" Yumi asked, snickering. Li nodded and laughed. They were quiet after that until Li finally broke the silence.

"_Ugg.. It's going to be hell trying to talk our parents out of this... But we have to give it one more shot,"_ said Li, determined to persuade their parents to break their engagement. Honor wasn't something taken lightly in Japan, and since their parents were honor-bound to the arranged marriage, convincing them to break the engagement was difficult.

"_You're right. I don't know when they're planning on dragging us back to Japan, but I hope we can change their minds soon..._" Yumi sighed as they came to the front door of her house. She pulled out her key, but before she had a chance to unlock the door, her parents pulled it open and glared at the two teens.

"Mom, dad!" Yumi exclaimed suddenly.

"_Yumi, we need to have a long talk,_" her father said. Yumi and Li blinked at each other. _"Come inside."_ Her father stepped aside to let the two teens pass. They walked in silence to the kitchen table, where the four of them sat down.

"_Yumi, your mother and I have decided to leave for Japan tomorrow evening."_ As her father said this, Yumi's mouth opened in protest. _"Wait until I am finished talking,_" he said harshly. Yumi fell silent. _"We feel that your going to this school in France has turned you into a rebel. You no longer respect your mother and father the way that you used to!"_

"_Father, that's ridiculous! This school has not effected me in a negative way!! It's helped me grow and become a better person; it hasn't ruined anything. I still respect an honor you!"_ Yumi cried in protest. Her father slapped the table in a sudden burst of anger, startling the three other people in the room.

"_You do no such thing! If you truly honored us, you would respect our arranged marriage to Li, but you keep rebelling against us! Some honor to your family that is! You disgrace your family, daughter. You shame us!_"

Yumi's eyes bulged at the harshness of his words. Her father had always been nice to her and patient with her. Why he was acting so harshly with this arranged marriage was beyond her, but she didn't like the sudden change in his personality at all. Tears filled her eyes, and she sprung from the table and ran to her room.

"_Mr. Ishiyama, I think that was a bit harsh..._" Li said quietly. Mr. Ishiyama stared at him in shock. He opened his mouth to say something, but changed his mind and closed his jaw. He got up quietly, and walked out of the room. Mrs. Ishiyama shook her head and followed her daughter's lead and headed towards her room. In the silence that followed, frustrated tears from both women could be heard in the ears of both men.

* * *

A/N: Whoo... o.o; Not much of a cliffhanger, but I hope it'll hold you off. I'm leaving yet again for a week... But it's a week in Hawaii; can you blame me? XD

If anyone has suggestions, feel free to pitch them!! If I hear something I like, I'll use it in the story

((just so that no one suggests this; yes, I WILL be bringing Lyoko into this story!!))


	5. Don't you see it's killing me?

**Key**:  
'_Thought'  
_"Speech"  
"_Speech in Japanese_"

**NOTE: **My gods, I'm so sorry for being a lazy bum about updating. I'll try to be more frequent; school just started, though, and stress levels high like a crack whore, so... blah.

* * *

The next morning brought Ulrich and Yumi back to the park for their usual sparring session. Well, nearly usual. The duo hadn't particularly had time for the midday spar since this fiancé fiasco started. The situation however seemed to only fuel their fighting, taking out frustrations on each other through friendly combat rather then in blinding rage.

"Oww-ack!" Ulrich winced as Yumi roughly blocked one of his punches then grabbed his other arm and flipped him over so he fell on his back. "Oof!" he let out as he hit the ground. "Geese, do you know how much that hurts?" he muttered in mild irritation. The girl smiled nervously, cocking an eyebrow.

"I'm sorry, Ulrich..." Yumi said with honesty. She still hadn't told Ulrich that her parents were taking her out of school an hour and a half early so that they could make their plane, and she had the sinking suspicion that it would be coming up very shortly in their conversation. Ulrich indeed gave her a strange look.

"What's up with you today, anyway? You've been so... quiet and violent. Like a panther or something," Ulrich sat up, rubbing his back with both hands and cringing. '_Right on cue_', she thought. _'I think the world is spiting me..._' Yumi sighed and sat down next to him, inadvertently agreeing on the break.

"A panther?" Yumi asked, raising an eyebrow and dodging the original question as far as she could. "More like a ninja; silent, but deadly,"

"Isn't that... No, never mind. So what's up with you?" He leaned forward a bit so that he could take Yumi's hand in his own. She flushed a bit, still unuse to the displays of affection he was showing her. Sighing, she figured that she couldn't delay it anymore. Ulrich was going to flip out...

"My mother and father... Have decided that they were taking Li and I back to Japan today." She looked away from him. "They're coming to pick us up in about two hours."

Ulrich _didn't_ flip out. He didn't have any reaction at all. The silence around them was deafening. Yumi, lost to the thought that he was never going to speak to her again, turned completely away from him. Her heart fell; how could he say _nothing_?

A full minute of silence passed before Yumi had the courage to turn around to see Ulrich's reaction. Instead of meeting his eyes, she met his chest as he pulled her into a hug. She reached up and clung to his shirt with one hand, wrapping the other around his back to pull him closer. He cradled her head as she clung to him, both trying to savor as much time together as possible.

Ulrich pushed her away gently, then took her face with his hands and pulled her upwards to meet his mouth. The kiss was deep, and full of emotion; Ulrich gently coaxed Yumi's mouth open with a brush of his tongue over her closed lips. She submitted to his whim with little protest, whimpering as their tongues caressed eachother.

Yumi suddenly tasted saltiness in his kiss, and pulled away from him. To her shock, she saw that Ulrich was _crying_.

"Ulrich...?" Yumi wiped her thumbs under his eyes and down his cheeks to rid his face of tears. He placed her hands on top of his, holding them in place.

"Yumi, I promise. I don't want to lose you. I promise. We'll go talk to your parents; we, us. We'll make them understand. We'll _make_ them, Yumi, but you can't go, you can't leave me..." Ulrich put his head on her shoulder and cried silently. He never really liked crying in front of other people; he never really liked opening up to other people, despite how close they were.

Yumi's eyes watered, but she didn't cry. She just held Ulrich as he let his tears fall and stroked his hair comfortingly. "Hey," she nudged him gently. "My parents will be here soon. Let's go meet them. We'll talk to them. Come on, everything will be okay," Yumi said, hugging him gently as he pulled back to look at her.

"You're right," he said, the usual confidence back in his voice. "We'll go talk to them. I'm sure they'll let you stay once they see how much I'm in love with you."

"You mean that, don't you?" Yumi asked gently. "You really are in love with me, aren't you?" She smiled widely, despite the situation.

"Of course I do," Ulrich said, wrinkling his brow in confusion. "Why wouldn't I?"

"Oh, it's not that! I... well; I mean I know you cared about me..._ very_ deeply... But I had no idea that you were _in love_ with me... And... Well, that fills me with hope." Yumi pulled Ulrich back down for another kiss, this one short and sweet. "Let's go talk to them, Ulrich."

"Alright. I'm ready when you are." He stood up, pulling her with him. They embraced lightly then walked back to the school hand in hand, where Yumi was to meet her parents.

The walk was a silent one, aside from the sound of their feet on the dirt and vegetation. Ulrich and Yumi made it back to the two other members of their group, who were waiting expectedly.

"What took you so long?" Jeremie asked, springing up from the bench as he saw them approach. Odd grinned.

"I bet I can guess!"

"Odd!" The three of them glared, but the guilty pair flushed, as they both knew Odd's suggestions to be true.

"This isn't a time to be joking, Odd," Ulrich said flatly. Jeremie raised an eyebrow.

"What's going on?" he asked.

"My parents..." Yumi said. "...are coming to pick Li and I up from here soon. We're going back to Japan. In two weeks, they want to marry me off."

Odd scoffed. "God, Yumi. Your parents are starting to tick me off."

"_Just_ starting?" she replied with sarcastic venom.

"They wouldn't _really_ do that, would they? Marry you off, I mean. Well, like, come to pick you up from school to drag you back home to marry someone who's a pretty cool guy, but not someone you want to marry?" Odd asked again, voice full of skepticism. Yumi glared as hard as possible at him.

"_This_ is my home, Odd. And yes, they really _would_ do that. They're honor bound. Honor means a lot to my parents... Though why the honor of their only daughter means nothing to them is _beyond_ me."

"They think they're honoring you by making sure that you uphold the promise that they made," Ulrich replied to her, squeezing her hand gently. She looked down at their hands and sighed.

"Yes, I know. I just wish they'd honor me by letting me be my own person," she muttered. Her three friends nodded in understanding.

"Don't worry, Yumi. We'll talk to them. We can talk them out of making you leave," Ulrich said confidently, bringing her hand up to hold it close to his heart. She looked at him, then let her eyes drift down to the pavement, unsure.

"I hope so... I truly, truly hope so,"

"They can't let you leave. You're an important member to this team; how many times have you saved us in Lyoko? Or in our world? You're a powerful ally. And it's not just that, Yumi. You're our _friend_. Our long term friend. There can never be another person like you," Jeremie said endearingly.

Yumi looked up with a smile. She had always considered Jeremie to be like the brother she never had; they looked out for eachother. She loved Jeremie very dearly; after all the things they've been through, after all the mistakes that were made, he was always there for her, always forgave her. There were few people in the world that could live up to Jeremie. She would miss him.

"Damn right!" Odd agreed with a firm nod. "You're the one and only Yumi; our friend, our fighter. Even if we do loose you to your dictator-esque parents, you don't need to worry about being replaced. Nothing on Earth (or Lyoko, for that matter) could replace you in our hearts."

Yumi's smile widened at that, though her eyes were sad. Odd was always there to lift her spirits through humor. She also saw him as a brother, though significantly less mature. Odd was reckless and joked a lot, but he did have his moments of tenderness. Like now, for instance. There can never be another Odd. She would miss him, too.

The Japanese girl doubted very much that her parents would even spend time listening to what she and her friends had to say. They didn't listen to her for all the other times she tried before, what would make them listen now? And now that they had bought tickets, there was no way they would go back on their word. She didn't want to tell her friends that, of course, for obvious reasons.

"Thanks, you guys... Thank you so much."

-------------

Not fifteen minutes later did the adults appear. Li was with them; the entire scene was so similar to when Li first came that it made Yumi nauseous.

"_Yumi, let's get going_," Mrs. Ishiyama said sharply. Yumi snapped her head around, glaring at the woman, but said nothing.

"Mrs. Ishiyama?" Ulrich said loudly, gaining the woman's attention.

"Yes, Ulrich?" she asked tiredly. Ulrich looked down at the ground for a moment, contemplating his plan of action. Instead of dwelling on what he might do, he just walked up to Yumi and took her hand.

"Mrs. Ishiyama, please don't take Yumi away from here. This is her home. She has friends here, she has responsibilities here..." he paused and flushed. "I love her so much; she has me here." Yumi squeezed his hand reassuringly.

"Yeah!" Odd piped in. "It's not fair of you to just take her away without asking her if she wanted to go back and marry Mr. Li over there. She loves Ulrich and she wants to stay!"

Mr. and Mrs. Ishiyama looked towards Yumi for confirmation. The girl nodded, moving closer to Ulrich. The parents looked at eachother.

"This is exactly why we are leaving, Yumi. Because you are disrespecting us," Mrs. Ishiyama bit out. She turned towards the principal with a disgusted look on her face. "I suggest to you, sir, that you teach these delinquents," she gestured to Odd "to respect and honor their elders. Disgraceful!" She marched over to her daughter and ripped her and Ulrich's hands apart. "_You will marry Li, Yumi_!" screamed the woman in Japanese.

Yumi struggled as her mother dragged her away from her friends. The principal, angry but silent, stood next to his three remaining students who watched with shock and sadness. "Come on, children. Say goodbye and it's time for lunch," he said lowly.

Ulrich, Odd and Jeremie all mumbled a sullen 'goodbye'. Yumi was already outside the gates and probably couldn't hear them either. She turned around suddenly, which made the trio pause.

"I'll call you when I have the chance!" Yumi cried. She turned around at her mother's harsh grip, letting out a whimper. The three boys went back to the cafeteria, stunned into a cold shock.

Yumi wrenched her arm out of her mother's hand, but continued walking towards the car. She had given up. She had lost. Li came up to her and put a comforting hand on her shoulder. They exchanged a look.

"_I am sorry, Yumi, that this couldn't be avoided,_" he said softly. Yumi nodded understandingly.

The duo looked back at the school, both wearing a solemn look on their faces. Yumi's eyes were red from unshed tears. She would _not_ cry. Things _would_ work out... Maybe... Maybe at the last minute, her parents would change their minds. Maybe a X.A.N.A attack would give her an excuse to run off; maybe when they went back in time, this entire thing could be avoided.

"Yumi..." came the angry softness of her mother's voice from inside the car. "Let's get going,"

Or maybe, for once, reality would be allowed to sink in and fate would be allowed to ruin lives.

With a heavy sigh, Yumi and Li turned around and got into the car. Neither adult looked remorseful as the car soared down the road to the airport.

-------------

He couldn't take this. He couldn't just stand here as Yumi flew off to get married to this boy she doesn't love. Ulrich paced back and fourth in his shared room, feeling much like a caged animal. Odd followed him with his eyes, getting more then frustrated with his friend's lack of action.

"Jesus, Ulrich, just go to the airport! Her flight doesn't leave for another 15 minutes; you can make it," Odd grumbled.

"Yeah, maybe if I had a car or, ya know, money for the bus or something," Ulrich replied with angry sarcasm. Odd made a face.

"Touchy, tooou-_chy_!" replied the blonde, anger seeping into his voice. "Dude, you _love_ her. You can't let her parents do this to her. If you let her go now, you may never see her again! Would you like that, Ulrich? Would you _really_ like that?"

"OF COURSE I WOULDN'T 'LIKE THAT'!" Ulrich snapped, turning towards Odd with anger. Odd reeled backwards at the harshness of his words, staring openly in shock. "Don't you think this is hard enough as it is? Yumi's parents know about us and they _still_ wouldn't change their minds. What the _hell_ makes you think that _anything_ would change if I went to the airport? This isn't some clichéd movie, Odd. Her parent's aren't going to smile and let it go if I take her into my arms! She's going to Japan and she's going to be stuck in a relationship that she's unhappy with, and there is _nothing I can do about it_, so just _let it go_ and let me try to move on!!"

The silence was blinding. Static rung in Ulrich's head due to the loudness of his voice and the fire he felt inside of himself did nothing but swell as Odd turned his eyes down. Ulrich stared at Odd, hands at his sides, trying to make the blonde understand; there was nothing that could be done. They had lost.

They had lost... _They had lost_. They had _never_ lost before. Never. Especially had they never lost a person; an associate, a friend, a lover. They've never had to deal with loss, never had to deal with the slight possibility that they might loose someone. Ever.

The thought reverberated in Ulrich's head over and over again until he started to whimper, trying hard to hold back the tears threatening to shed. Odd looked back up at him at the new sound, a new wave of sadness and shock rolling over him as he saw Ulrich almost literally biting back tears. In all his years of being friends with Ulrich, he had only seen him cry one time beforehand, and that was because he was 10 and fell out of a tree.

"..." Odd opened his mouth to say something, but shut it immediately, not able to find the right kind of words to comfort Ulrich. The heavy silence continued, sans Kiwi's nails tapping on the wooden floor as the dog uncurled to stretch.

It was then, of course, that the thumping of feet echoed down the hallway, and the door was thrown open. Jeremie stood in the doorway, huffing and puffing, eyes switching from panic to alarm and concern as he stared at the incredibly unfamiliar situation in front of him. Ulrich was on the brink of tears and Odd looked very much like a beaten puppy; the entire room had an aura of distress about it, which both shocked yet didn't surprise Jeremie at all.

"I know now really isn't the time," Jeremie said softly, aware that noise was probably new to the room. "But a tower was recently activated in Lyoko. I don't know what could be the problem, but we'd better stop it before something happens." Neither of the boys said anything, but both followed their friend as he lead them out of the dorm.

As they came to the end of the hall, they ran into a crowd outside of Millie and Tamiya's door. An elder man's voice could be heard, which lead them to believe that there was a television on. The trio stopped at the door and tried to peer over everyone's shoulder.

Jeremie tapped the shoulder of the nearest person, a girl, who turned around sharply.

"Oh, hey Jeremie!"

"Hi Naomi," Jeremie said quickly. "Do you know what's going on in here?" Naomi turned back around and pointed to the television.

"Well, not exactly, but something's happened at the airport. All flights that took off in the past hour have mysteriously turned towards the Foreign Embassy district in Paris. They're expected to crash in no less then 10 minutes."

The colour drained from the three boys faces. A feeling similar to the mix of both bitter coldness and frying heat spread throughout them over and over, as their most unexpected fears manifested themselves.

Without another word, they tore off towards the factory.

-------------

Odd and Ulrich dropped to Lyoko in their usual stance, ready to spring into action. Aelita wasted no time in joining them.

"Ulrich, Odd! We have to deactivate the tower _now_!" she said in a rush.

"We know," Odd said, taking off in the direction of the pulsations. "The airplanes are being controlled and Yumi's _on_ one!" At the blonde's words, Ulrich ran off after him. Alarm ran over Aelita's face before she snapped to attention and followed her two friends.

"What do you mean she's on one?" Aelita asked, panting as they ran.

"Hasn't Jeremie been keeping you updated? Yumi's parents are taking her and Li back to Japan so they can get married once Yumi turns 18 in a few weeks!" replied Odd. Aelita took in this information and instead of replying, concentrated on getting to the tower. There was no time to waste.

"Is this it?" Ulrich asked, glancing up towards the red tinted tower. "It's gotta be," he reasoned. "But where are the monsters?" he looked around and indeed, there were no monsters in sight.

The trio approached the tower with caution, but when absolutely no monsters made the move to attack them, Aelita went to enter the tower. She touched the base tentatively, unsure of whether or not monsters would spring out at the last minute. When they didn't, she turned around to the two boys watching her.

"Be careful, Aelita. It could be a trap," Odd warned.

"Hurry. Yumi and thousands of other people are counting on you," Ulrich said. Aelita nodded and entered the tower. Without any hesitation, she typed in the Lyoko code and watched as X.A.N.A's presence faded from the inside out.

...But that's all that happened. The familiar white bubble of back-in-time travel didn't appear. Aelita exited the tower in confusion to see whether or not Odd and Ulrich were still there. To her dismay, they were.

"Aelita, what's with the delay?" Odd said.

"There was no delay. I entered the code," she replied. All three stared at each other in confusion. "Jeremie? Do you know what's going on? What's happening?"

There was silence on the other end.

"Jeremie...?" Ulrich echoed. Again, no reply.

"_JEREMIE!_" Odd screamed, panicking. This time, there was a reply. Jeremie's voice was shaking, but he replied.

"Hey guys..?" Jeremie started hesitantly. "Remember how we said that if anyone were killed because of a X.A.N.A attack, we wouldn't go back in time...?"

He left the trio to draw their own conclusions.

-------------

They watched the television playback of the planes crashing into each other and the buildings in Paris; a grand total of 10 planes were destroyed in the attack.

"I understand now," Jeremie quietly said after a while, watching the television screen on his computer. "X.A.N.A didn't send any monsters to stop you because he didn't need to be stopped. His goal had already been reached. The planes had crashed before you'd even got to the tower." Once again, silence fell over them. None of them could believe this was happening.

"We have just received a list of the planes involved in the attack," said the man on television. Three heads whipped around to stare at the screen of the super computer with full attention. "Flight 582 to Newark International, New Jersey, United States. Flight 87 to Sheremetyevo, Moscow, Russia. Flight 1039 to Schonefeld, Berlin, Germany. Flight 1112 to Hong Kong, China. Flight 97 to Osaka International, Osaka, Japan. Flight 776 to Cario International, Cario, Africa..."

"Call her cell, Ulrich, call her cell," Odd said quickly. Ulrich pulled out his cell and dialed furiously, holding the trembling phone to his ear. There was still the slightest bit of hope that Yumi wasn't on the plane, or that maybe her plane hadn't taken off yet.

It was only a moment later that he gently took the phone from his hand and pressed the disconnect button.

"'The number is temporarily unavailable'," he repeated monotonously. A dark wave of silence washed over them as the unquestionable truth fell upon them.

Yumi was dead. X.A.N.A had won.

Yumi was dead...

..._Yumi was dead_...

The cries of three boys echoed out of the factory for hours, but no one was there to listen.

* * *

_**I recall all the days,  
**_**_all the things that I acted upon,  
_****_all the pain that I bared and still bare  
_****_just for a 'maybe' in a dream I  
_**_**barely remember.  
**__**It fades like the sky that now,  
**_**_I watch with interest,  
_**_**willing it to swallow me up,**_

_**to take me home.**_

* * *

You may throw rocks at me now. :D  
(No, this is not the end)  
Reviews make me want to update faster!


	6. I know this corner of the earth

**Key**:  
'_Thought'_  
"Speech"  
"_Speech in Japanese_

* * *

Five years was an awkward amount of time for them. It was long enough for them to move on from what had happened at the airport, to move on from the fact that they couldn't contact their friends, the fact that their friends were probably lost to them… But five years was far too short of a time to _forget_.

Five years wasn't enough time to forget. Five _lifetimes_ wasn't enough time to forget. Not after all the pain the endured. Not after the public discovery of the super computer in the abandoned lab and the "amazing adventures" that developed as a result.

Had they moved on? Not entirely; it was nearly impossible to move on that quickly after such a life changing event. Were they recovering? Of course. Time heals all of these types of wounds, no matter how deep.

The remaining year of High School had been hell, and college applications were stressful. College wasn't a slice of cherry pie either, but they had survived it, and they were ready. They were ready to face what should have been faced years ago.

They were always ready.

They would always _be_ ready.

"I don't think I'm ready for this," a weak voice shook as the airplane landed.

"You are!" a second voice replied with innocent enthusiasm.

"It's been long enough; finally you're able to go home," A third, deeper one said. "You're back, Yumi. You're home."

The trio stepped off the plane together; one with confidence and excitement, the other with fear and uncertainty. The third one held both of their hands.

Indeed it was true; Yumi Ishiyama had finally returned to France.

-------------

"Li, what if they don't remember me? What if they _do_? What if they're mad at us? At me? What if he doesn't love me anymore? What if I don't know what to say to them?" Yumi was pacing up and down the apartment's living room.

"Yumi, would you calm down already?" Li raised his eyebrows, watching the girl pace. She let out a whimper at his words.

"What do I do? Oh God, oh God! What do I do? What do I _say_? Should I look for them?" she gasped suddenly and froze. "What if they've moved? What do I do if they've moved? They can't have moved, I won't get to hunt them down if they've moved!" she started to twitch. Li just stared at her.

"Aiya, calm down! Look, we _know_ they're still here."

"How?" Yumi asked, glaring at the man. He blinked, then blinked again and again, looking very much like a trapped animal. "They found the factory and shut it down," Yumi continued. "We _know_ that; it was worldwide news once they found out all about Lyoko. After that kind of loss, I can't see _why_ they'd stay," she finished confidently. Her voice was wavering, heartbroken.

Li looked down at his bare feet. "It can't be _that_ hard to find them…" he said. "Wouldn't they be in the phonebook?"

"What if they're married?" Yumi shot back immediately.

"Then their wives would take their surenames," Li said with a sarcastic tone, as if he were talking to a toddler.

"…" Yumi sighed. "I can't believe they didn't try to call me."

"_I_ can't believe that _you_ didn't call _them_. Well, I know you didn't have your cell phone, but you could have used another phone. It's not like there's a phone shortage…" Li smirked. "Besides, I'm sure they assumed we were both dead. It's not their fault. That crash _was_ pretty harsh. You should have called and told them you were okay. Ulrich, at least." Yumi flinched ad his name.

"I was too shaken up," Yumi said. "We were lucky. _WE_ were lucky. My parents… everyone but us didn't have that luck. You were there, you would know. It's my fault that I couldn't save anyone else. If my TK were stronger, maybe I could have. But I couldn't. And two weeks later the airline found us in the hospital and bothered us about cause and such for weeks. They gave us free tickets back to Japan for our troubles, of course, but still. It's not as if I had much personal time with them always around me.

"Then there were the bodiless funerals, the memorials, the questions, the wedding… It was too overwhelming. I guess… I forgot. At least, until months later, when everything calmed down and I realized that I had lost my cellphone in the attack and that I couldn't remember anyone's cell. Except for Ulrich's. And his was out of service. And has been ever since."

"You can't worry about things that didn't happened yet." A little girl came bobbling into their view, having been hiding out next to the bed for the past ten minutes, listening to their conversation.

"Aah, Hana!" Li said, scooping up the girl into his arms. She looked at Yumi with childlike arrogance, her chubby face bunched up into frustration.

"You're being silly, Yumi-tan. If they your friends then they can't have not remembered you anymore," Hana argued, putting her little fists on her hips, successfully elbowing Li. Yumi chuckled at the sight.

"I know, Hana-chan. I'm just nervous."

"I don' wanna be called that!" Hana said grumpily. "I wanna be Hana-hime!!" Yumi laughed, ruffling the girls hair affectionately.

"Like mother like daughter, it seems," said the black haired woman, standing up from the bed.

"You're lucky Sakura isn't here to hear you say that," Li snickered. Yumi just smiled.

"Well, what can I say? Your wife is the most straightforward person I've ever met."

He held his hand to the side of his mouth so that his daughter wouldn't see his lips. "She thinks Hana's the most obnoxious little thing ever. She'd kill you for comparing her and her daughter," he mouthed at Yumi. She laughed.

"Not obnoxious, just forward," Yumi mouthed back. She turned to Hana and offered a hand. "Well, Hana. If you promise to be polite tonight, I promise to take you out for crepes tomorrow."

Hana turned her head to the side. "What's a creeeeepe?"

-------------

Odd paced back and fourth in the office slowly, growing irate. Ulrich was late _again_, and Odd would be the one to suffer for it. His boss did _not_ appreciate tardiness, as they learned the first week of their new employment, yet somehow Ulrich always managed to be there just a little bit too late for the liking. Four hours late, give or take. Letting out an angry sigh, Odd flopped back down in his chair, his eye twitching.

"Odd,"; came the threatening voice of his boss. "Is your wonderfully punctual partner here yet?"

Odd resisted the urge to throw his paperweight at the open door.

"Not yet, your majesty. It seems that our little knight in shining armor is far too busy wooing the ladies fair," he replied with an acute sarcasm. His boss poked his head into the door with a huff.

"God damnit, how many times have I told you not to take that tone with me?" the man grumbled. Odd smiled with feign innocence.

"Oh, I don't know Mr. D, five hundred-something? I stopped keeping tallies." He held up a notepad suggestively, and his boss sighed.

"You're lucky you do good work, or else I'd have kicked you and your crew out of here a long time ago. And it's Mr. Delano, for _God_'s sake." Mr. Delano raised his eyes to the heavens and sighted, leaving the room. "If your partner doesn't get his sorry little German butt here soon, I'll put you two on a crappy case."

"Grumpy old bear…" Odd muttered under his breath, folding his arms behind his head and leaning back on the chair. Just as he did so, his phone rang. He jumped and dived for it, splaying papers across his desk.

"Ulrich, you lazy little shit, where the hell ARE you?!" He practically screamed.

"Jesus, calm down will you?" came the voice on the other end. The _female_ voice.

"Ah! Sorry, Aelita. Ulrich's late again…" Odd flushed with embarrassment, apologizing profusely with his tone.

"It's alright, Odd, I understand. I was calling because I wanted to know if Jeremy was there yet."

Odd blinked. "No, I thought you two were out on a case together."

"Yeah, we were, but apparently he had to go back to the office."

"Well, he's not here yet. I'll tell him that you called, though."

"Thanks, I would appreciate it. I'll see you later, Odd!" He heard the click on the other end, and grumpily threw the phone back into the receiver, resuming his irritated position in the chair.

Twenty minutes later, Ulrich walked in. He was pale and looked disoriented, but that didn't stop him from tipping Odd's chair over backwards in his usual way to wake the man up. Odd yelped and sprang up instantly, rubbing his sore head.

"God damnit, do you think you could find a cuter way of waking me up next time?" Odd started, then glanced up at his friend. "What the hell happened to you? You look like you've seen a ghost."

Ulrich muttered something under his breath before speaking to his friend. "I thought I saw Yumi."

"_Again_?" Odd deadpanned. "God, you're torturing yourself Ulrich… Look, come to The Bar with me after work tonight. I'm sure we can find someone for you."

"Odd, trust me, no one at that bar will interest me. There's this one small factor you're forgetting: unlike you, I'm all-the-way straight. Just because you're having a boy-day doesn't mean you can drag me down with you," Ulrich rolled his eyes in mirth, a smirk forming on his face at his friend's habit of visiting 'The Bar' on his unpredicted 'boy days'. "Besides, the only women that will be there will only be interested in other women."

"Yeah, yeah, laugh it up…" Odd grumbled, sticking his tongue out at his friend in a childish manner.

"AH! There you are, you little wolf monster!" Mr. Delano burst through the door, pointing at Ulrich accusingly. "Why in God's name are you late _again_!"

"Sorry, Mr. D, I-"

"MR. DELANO, for _CHRIST_'s sake!"

"Sorry, Mr. _Delano_… I ran into an old friend. Or.. erm.. Well, an old friend look-alike."

"_AGAIN_?!"

"What do you mean, 'again'? Geeze, you two make it sound like this is an every day occurrence."

The two other occupants in the room stared at him as if he had just grown a third head. "Hmph." Mr. Delano muttered. "Well, I'm giving you two a case no one wants. Maybe next time you'll actually show up for work on time, wolf monster. I'll have my secretary throw in your case files in a few minutes." Mr. Delano slammed their door shut, and Odd flipped him a very rude gesture. Ulrich rolled his eyes at his friends' immaturity, but took a seat at the edge of the desk and frowned.

"It was different this time, Odd…"

"How the Hell was it different?" Odd replied in a flat voice, once again flopping in his chair. "You say it's different every time."

"No, I mean it was really different this time. This time, I could have sworn it was her. She had a little kid with her, a little girl."

"So? Lots of asian women have kids. That doesn't mean it was Yumi." Odd didn't even bother to look at his friend, instead shutting his eyes leisurely.

"She was levitating crepes, Odd. _Levitating crepes_. How many asian women can do _that_?" Ulrich turned and looked at his friend, who now had an eye cocked open.

"How do you know you weren't just imagining it, hmm?"

"I… I guess I don't." Ulrich said softly, turning back around just as the case file slipped through the strip under their door.

-------------

"Yumi-tan, float it, float it again!" Hana screamed, her bubbly girlish voice laden thick with Japanese accent. Yumi just smiled, and bent down close to the girl in her seat. She glanced around quickly to make sure no one was watching them; no one would be, since most people kept to themselves now a-days, but it never hurt to be sure. Seeing nothing threatening, she gave the girls' third strawberry crepe a glance, and it hovered off the plate and soared right to Hana's waiting hands. The child giggled hysterically, and Yumi straightened up in her chair with a grin on her face.

The door to the restaurant opened and the bell jingled, and Yumi glanced up with a slight pang of fear, worrying that maybe someone had spotted her and was coming to poke and prod at her. When the sandy haired man that entered paid her no mind and instead went straight for the bar in the back, she relaxed some.

"Yumi-tan, float it again!" Hana begged, tugging on Yumi's sleeve. Yumi rolled her eyes and gestured to her dish.

"You had four crepes, Hana, and I've 'floated' all of them _along with_ your roll and salad tomatoes! That's enough for you!"

"Pleaaaase, Yumi! Float one more!! Please Yumi, Yumi, Yumi, Yuuuumiiii!! Yuumii, flooooat it!!" The girl twisted and whined, throwing herself into Yumi's lap. A tick appeared in Yumi's eye and she yanked the girl off her lap.

"Hana! Stop behaving badly, we're in a public place. Mind your manners. And stop acting like such a wiggle worm, you're getting your crepe filling everywhere!" Yumi frowned, realizing that she was starting to sound like a forty year old mother, but Hana giggled and threw her arms up.

"Float _me_, Yumi, Yumi!"

Yumi growled, half in irritation, half in playfulness, and grabbed her niece's sides and tickled mercilessly. Hana's shrieks and giggles filled the nearly empty restaurant. "You only get floated if you can beat the tickle monster!" Yumi said with determination. Hana just shrieked louder and tried to flee from Yumi's grasp.

"NO!! STOP!! FLOAT ME!!" Hana squealed. Yumi recoiled her hands back and shushed Hana, but couldn't keep the smile off her face.

"Hana, don't shout so loudly!!" Yumi couldn't help but chuckle. "Fine, fine. I'll 'float' you once we get back to the room."

"Promise…?" Hana said with a grin. Yumi nodded.

"Of course. Now, are you ready to go?"

"Yes, Yumi-tan!!" the little girl chimed.

"Alright, then, got your jacke-" Yumi was cut off as she looked up, noticing that the man who had walked in before was now staring at them in shock. "Can… I help you…?" Yumi asked hesitantly. The man blinked a few times.

"Yumi?" he said in a deep, yet familiar voice. The recognition struck Yumi like a ton of bricks.

"Holy shit. Jeremie, is that you?"

* * *

Fffht. As if i could actually break up Ulrich and Yumi. XP

Hime is princess  
Yumi-tan is just an affectionate name

Those who completely missed what I was saying; Odd is bisexual. Sometimes he has "girl days", sometimes he has "boy days". "The Bar" refers to a gay bar. XP

Mr. D keeps calling Ulrich "wolf monster"… the name Ulrich means something along the lines of 'wolf'.

Argh, I wanted to have their meeting be longer in this chapter, but it didn't come out the way I wanted it to, so I'm putting the rest off 'till next chapter in order to fix it. Oh well…

Aah, please **_keep your flames to yourself_**, too. They're unappreciated. **Keep in mind that I'm _NOT_ a writer, I'm a manga artist, so I'm not exactly the most perfect writer.** Any questions are welcomed, but they'll probably be answered in later chapters. XP


	7. IMPORTANT NOTE predictable

Alright, alright, alright! I've been pestered my last pester! Haha, you guys are awesome. I'm sorry for taking so long to update this, and I'm sure you were all "zomg!" when you saw that this was updated… So I'm sorry this is just an author's note.

…But I'm gonna rewrite this piece of crap. Haha. I re-read it after a year of no updates (I'm sorry, don't throw things at me!) and I see a LOT of room for improvement. I'm also gonna incorporate some of the new themes from the new season. Chapters will be longer, and better. Yumi will be less wangsty.

This shall be rewritten!

Thank you for your support, and for the people who prodded me over the course of the past year. I really appreciate your dedication! It gives me a lot of confidence. :3

And hey, if FFN deletes this for this chapter just being an authors note, well hey! It's gonna be rewritten anyway, right:P


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